1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator having an opening/closing device for controlling supply of cool air into a cooling compartment by opening/closing cool air supply ports.
2. Related Art
A general refrigerator has a compressor for compressing refrigerant, an evaporator for generating cool air by evaporating the refrigerant supplied from the compressor, and a fan for blowing the cool air generated by the evaporator. The cool air blown by the fan is supplied into a cool air duct formed with a plurality of cool air supply ports, and then the cool air is supplied into the cooling compartment through the cool air supply ports.
In order to control the supply of the cool air into the cooling compartment, a refrigerator having a device for opening/closing cool air supply ports has been proposed. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control device for controlling the refrigerator having such an opening/closing device.
The refrigerator has a temperature sensing part 30 having a first temperature sensor 31 and a second temperature sensor 32, a driving part 10 for driving the opening/closing device, and a microcomputer 20 for controlling the driving part 10 according to the sensing result of the temperature sensing part 30.
The driving part 10 is comprised of a driving motor 17 for driving the opening/closing device, a relay 11 for controlling supply of an alternating current from an external power source AC, and a reed switch 12 for sensing the status of the opening/closing device.
The opening/closing device of the refrigerator is comprised of, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a duct member 13 being formed with a plurality of cool air supply ports 13a and forming a cool air duct into which the cool air flows from the evaporator, an opening/closing member 16 being closely contacted with the duct member 13 and for opening/closing the cool air supply ports 13a, and a power transmission 18 for transmitting the driving force of the driving motor 17.
A plurality of air holes 16a are formed on the opening/closing member 16. According to the position of the opening/closing member 16, the cool air supply ports 13a of the duct member 13 are opened as shown in FIG. 2 or closed as shown in FIG. 3.
The power transmission 18 is comprised of a cam and a plurality of gears, and converts the rotation of the driving motor 17 to the up-and-down movement of the opening/closing member 16. The reed switch 12 is installed on an area of the power transmission 18, and a magnet 19 for driving the reed switch 12 is mounted on an area of the opening/closing member 16. When the opening/closing member 16 moves down by the operation of the driving motor 17, the cool air supply ports 13a are closed as shown in FIG. 3, and the reed switch is turned on by the magnet 19. Then, the microcomputer 20 senses the completion of the closing operation of the opening/closing member 16, and stops operating the driving motor 17.
As such, the refrigerator drives the opening/closing member on the basis of the temperature sensed by the temperature sensing part 30, whereby the cool air is supplied into the cooling compartment or the supply of cool air is stopped, and the temperature of the cooling compartment is maintained constant. Further, the refrigerator has a sensor for sensing the open/close states of the door mounted on the cooling compartment, and when the open state of the door is sensed by the sensor, the driving motor 17 is driven so that the cool air supply ports 13a are closed by the opening/closing member 16. Therefore, when the door is open, the supply of the cool air to the cooling compartment is stopped, the loss of the cool air caused by the unnecessary supply of the cool air is prevented.
However, in such a conventional refrigerator, the opening/closing member 16 merely performs the operations for opening/closing the cool air supply ports 13a, so there is a shortcoming that the supply of the cool air is not efficiently controlled. Furthermore, since some period of time is consumed in closing the cool air supply ports 13a by driving the opening/closing member 16 using the driving motor 17, the supply of the cool air is not stopped immediately after the door is opened, and thereby the loss of the cool air occurs.